Statement by Mr. Takahiro Nakamae
Minister, Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations
At the Fifth Meeting of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the
Work of the Revitalization of the General Assembly

1 June, 2012

Co-chairs,

      Thank you for convening today’s meeting on the functions of the Office of the President of the General Assembly.

      In recent years, the activities of the President of the General Assembly have increased markedly. In this regard, I would like to pay tribute to H. E. Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, current President of the General Assembly, for his efforts to enable this body to fulfill its role in addressing current global issues in a timely manner. One such initiative is his holding of thematic debates, such as the one held on 12 April on Disaster Risk Reduction, which produced timely and fruitful outcomes.

      Japan is keenly aware of the need to reinforce the institutional memory of the Office of the President of the General Assembly. This needs to be attained in an efficient and cost-effective manner. One of practical ways of proceeding is to record and compile good practices observed and lessons learned in the efforts undertaken by current and past Presidents of the Assembly. In this context, the issuance of the PGA Handbook by the Permanent Mission of Switzerland in cooperation with H.E. Mr. Joseph Deiss, President of the 65th session of the General Assembly, was a welcome initiative. It is hoped that the rich experiences of the current President will be passed on to the next President in due course.

Co-chairs,

      As of today’s meeting, we have undertaken a series of thematic meetings. As we engage in wrapping up our discussion and in our consultations on a draft report to be submitted by our Working Group to the General Assembly, I would like to stress once again that efforts to revitalize the work of the General Assembly should be pursued in a practical manner, building upon mutual trust and confidence among the Member States as well as the UN organs. With that in mind, I wish to reaffirm my delegation’s commitment to contribute constructively to the work of this Working Group.

      Thank you.